8.9.11

Awesome August. Magical September.

Happy September.

I've been done with Road for a while and been doing some racing up at the track. Sometimes I wonder why people even ride bikes with derailleurs (though usually I hop on Slutty and quickly remember why). Track is neat because it's fitness but even more about being smart. I've been super lucky to be able to listen to, observe, and get pointers from some of the best riders in the area and in some cases nation up at Valley Preferred-- special thanks to Joe W. (who in addition to claiming the Masters Nationals Omnium Title is on the way to Masters WORLDS in October) and Hoover (who has provided me with endless pointers, a sick disc to ride, and drove us all up in his awesome van reminiscent of a certain training camp spent in a Eurovan). I still screw it up quite often, but it's slowly coming together. Here's a recent Points Race (I'm in green) I did, courtesy of Dan Hoover. I was coming off a week and half of no riding and lots of beer drinking, but tactics really paid off.

'But BChan, A week and a half of no riding and excessive beer drinking?!?! What's up with that?' you ask? Ha! Well, after finishing my summer gig in DC I hightailed it to a friend's organic farm in Virginia. What was intended to be a two day visit turned into six days of vegetable gardening, gorging on fresh figs, TV watching, beer drinking, and eating straight out of the back yard. A little slice of heaven, and certainly a great alternative to dealing with the wrath of Hurricane Irene up north. Thanks to C. Frederick for putting up with me....and continuing to talk to me after the fact.

Post-farm I have switched into ultra-vagabond mode; I'm now in Philly house sitting for friends for a couple weeks while continuing to seek gainful employment. I did the Donut Derby on Monday, which I would prefer not go into detail about as the mere thought of it triggers my gag reflex. My first run of 2011 + cross practice yesterday = wrecked body. But in a good way, of course :)